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The best—and worst—times to send an email

Despite the marketing and PR world’s love affair with social media, email remains a key component of any media relations or marketing campaign. Plus, it’s the primary way agencies and clients stay in touch.

Whether we like it or not, email isn’t going anywhere, at least not in the near future.

For those professionals whose livelihood depends on email open rates and click-through numbers, an infographic with data from email software provider GetResponse will be of great use.

GetResponse analyzed more than 21 million emails sent by its clients during the first quarter of 2012. Among the findings:

• 23.63 percent of all emails are opened within the first hour; that number drops off precipitously as the hours tick by;
• Most emails are sent from 6 a.m. to noon; the least amount occur from midnight to 6 a.m.;
• The hours that see the most click-thrus are 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., and 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.;
• The hours that see the most opens are 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., and 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.

“The best time to send emails is when customers are reviewing their inboxes,” the infographic says. “For maximum open and click rates choose morning and early afternoon.”